France is already on the Moon, it will even explore its hidden side

The Chinese Chang'e 6 lander landed on the far side of the Moon with à its edge, a French scientific instrument.

If Thomas Pesquet is still waiting to know if he will be part of the American program which aims for a return of astronauts to the Moon, France is not for it equally absent from lunar soil. She has even been officially represented there for a few days. A month after taking off from the Wenchang base, located on the island of Hainan in southern China, the Chang& #39;e 6 s'is placed on the far side of the Moon on the night of Saturday 1st & Sunday June 2   12:23 a.m. (French time). This ambitious Chinese mission which aims à bringing back the first samples of the hidden side of the Moon takes with her a French scientific instrument designed by the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Plane ;tology (IRAP) of Toulouse.

In addition to Chinese equipment, the Chang'e 6 probe also took with it' with her several instruments belonging to à different countries. Thus, Pakistan, Sweden and Italy were able to take advantage of the spacecraft to deposit scientific tools on the Moon which will be used for their future research. take action or à prepare for future missions. For its part, France was able to take on board a spectrometer called Dorn chargedé to measure radon, a gas present in the environment. the surface of the Moon.

For this, the device is equipped with eight sensors that allow it to detect the presence of radon in the thin layer of gas that surrounds our natural satellite. This mission therefore marks the return to the Moon of France which had already been there. installed laser reflectors the lunar surface in 1970 and 1973 thanks to the Soviet landers Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2. This is also a great first ;re for our country since Dorn constitutes the first French scientific instrument "active" placed on the Moon.

Installed in its lunar crater, the Chang'e 6 probe must now take samples for two days . À Using its drill and robotic arm, Chang'e 6 will dig holes up to two meters deep in the ground to extract rocks which will be analyzed later. The mission of the Chang'e 6 probe is expected to last a total of 53 days between its takeoff and the arrival of the precious cargo which should take place on June 25 in Mongolia. The capsule is scheduled to land in the Siziwang Banner, a region commonly used for returning Chinese spaceflights.

Housed in the heart of the Apollo crater, one of the largest known craters in the solar system, the The Chang'e 6 probe did not land by chance on the far side of the Moon. Still little explored, this region is particularly interesting from a scientific point of view. Indeed, it is home to large craters ;res in which the lunar crust is very thin, which provides easy access to the rocks of the “mantle”, the layer located just above below. If the Chinese mission is a success, it will be the first time that samples from the far side of the Moon have been brought back to Earth. The opportunity for China to catch up some of its delay on the United States and Russia in terms of space exploration.